Drew Miller, the man whose key hit got the Ducks going in their Stanley Cup finals victory over Ottawa, is now with the Red Wings and is being given credit for sparking their turnaround. Chris McCosky of the Detroit News tells why.

And if you're the Sharks, who played an underseeded Ducks team in the first round and were ousted, aren't you hoping that you can bob and weave your way to a first-round match with anybody but Detroit?

Drew Miller couldn't say that Tuesday night was the first time he had been in the visiting locker room at Honda Center.

Not long ago Miller (right) was thrown into the NHL fire with the Ducks during the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals, when the Ducks summoned their "Black Aces" up from the minor leagues to serve as a sort of practice squad.

"During playoffs," said Miller, "we would have so many guys for practice we'd be in here."

Miller was officially a member of the opposition, though, when he returned to Honda Center for the first time Tuesday as a Detroit Red Wing.

It has been a journeyman-like season for the 25-year-old winger, who was traded to Tampa Bay for Evgeny Artyukhin in August and waived by Tampa Bay before Detroit signed him in November.

Ducks general manager Bob Murray had his eyes on Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Evgeny Artyukhin for months.

Here's guessing that Murray didn't have to squint to find the 6-foot-5, 254-pound Russian (right).

After attempts to acquire Artyukhin around the trading deadline in March and again at June's draft, Murray traded for the right wing to balance their other offseason moves.

"We changed our team a little bit," Murray said. "We had gotten a bit more skill and moved a few things around. In doing so, we lost a little bit of our size, sandpaper or grit. We have been trying to find a way to patch that for a little while."

Artyukhin more than covers that patch physically. He 's known as a hard-hitting forward who is also fast, particularly for a man his size.

The Ducks traded left wing Drew Miller and a third-round draft pick in 2010 to Tampa Bay for big Russian winger Evgeny Artyukhin, the team announced Thursday.

Artyukhin 26, had six goals and 10 assists with 153 penalty minutes in 73 games for Tampa Bay last season. Listed at 6-foot-5, 254 pounds, he played in Russia the previous two seasons after his debut NHL season with the Lightning in 2005-06.

Artyukhin is entering the final year of a contract in which he will earn $1 million.

Miller, 25, had been a fourth-line forward but earned a role on the Ducks' checking line with Todd Marchant and Rob Niedermayer late last season after the club traded Travis Moen and Samuel Pahlsson.